


eclipse

by hyunjinbarks



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 21:08:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30078354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyunjinbarks/pseuds/hyunjinbarks
Summary: Tzuyu doesn’t know how to flirt and keeps accidentally picking on Sana instead. To top it all off, Sana might just be allergic to her— if the fact that she sneezes whenever Tzuyu is around is any indication.Alternatively,The one where Tzuyu sneaks yogurt cups into Sana’s locker every morning only to find out she might be lactose intolerant. Or not quite.
Relationships: Chou Tzuyu/Minatozaki Sana
Comments: 8
Kudos: 75





	eclipse

“She’s allergic?!”

Chaeyoung doubles over in laughter, and Dahyun nods affirmatively. Her good-for-nothing friends have just informed her that Sana cannot, in fact, consume lactose. The same girl Tzuyu has been leaving yogurt for everyday for the past month or so.

“We heard her friends talking about how this girl won't stop giving her yogurt cups from the cafeteria. They think it’s a threat.”

“But she…” Tzuyu pouts, remembering all the times she’s heard Sana skipping down the hallways, talking about how excited she was to get home and eat yogurt. She had intended for it to be a thoughtful gesture building up to a confession. That is, if she ever manages to say more than two words to Sana without inadvertently insulting her. “Great, now she probably thinks I’m trying to poison her…”

Chaeyoung, who‘s just now recovering from her laughing fit, chortles again. Though, Tzuyu’s elbow nudging her in the ribs never fails to cease her laughter. “Ow! Hey! It’s not my fault she has a fear of yogurt.”

“It’s not a phobia, dumbass.” Tzuyu rolls her eyes. This time Dahyun laughs too, fist-bumping Chaeyoung.

“Why don’t you just try talking to her? You know, compliment her. Sana unnie is honestly the easiest person to start a conversation with.” Chaeyoung suggests, mindlessly flipping through the textbook splayed on the table before her. 

They had initially come to the school library to study in their free period, but studying seldom ever happens for Tzuyu when these two goofballs are around. Midterm season looms over them like a stormy weather forecast where the sun awaits on the other side, except the nagging feeling at the back of her mind - the one where she needs to overcome something to feel the warmth of the sun again - doesn’t seem to be about schoolwork at all. 

“That’s the most ridiculous idea you’ve ever had,” Dahyun intervenes, then looks pointedly at Tzuyu. “You want to ask her out, don’t you? Unless you want to play the long game, that’s just gonna get you friend-zoned.”

“Bro, that’s still one step closer to a girl- _friend_. And she’s been at this for at least a month already.”

“The last time Tzuyu tried to compliment Sana unnie, she called her a nerd.”

“I meant to say she’s smart!”

“Yeah, I’m sure she understands that when you, and I quote, said ‘who sits in the library at lunch. so you’re really… like a nerd huh?’”

“Well, I mean, who actually does that?”

“Guys, keep it down over there.” The library assistant interrupts them from behind the checkout counter, looking up from the stack of books she’s been scanning and putting away in their rightful spots. “I’d prefer keeping my job, if you don’t mind.”

This isn’t the first time the three of them needed a reminder of where exactly they were. It wouldn’t be the first time they were kicked out for being too loud either. 

“Sorry, we’ll be quieter!” Dahyun assures the assistant louder than necessary, bowing apologetically before glaring at the two girls at her table as a warning.

Tzuyu and Chaeyoung share a look. Dahyun’s little crush on said library assistant is no secret, but it’s still funny to see her act like that.

“Speaking of asking people out,” Tzuyu drawls. “When exactly are you going to ask out the bookworm?”

Dahyun blinks slowly, nostrils flaring as she makes a face. She has a talent for manipulating her face like that, really. “Shh! What if Mina heard that?” She whisper-shouts.

If she didn’t hear them before, she probably did now.

“Then I’d be doing you a favour. We both know you don’t hang out here for the ambiance or books.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know I quite like the _ambiance_ here,” Dahyun says pompously. “Besides, this is about you and Sana unnie. Not me and…” she trails off, eyes drifting toward Myoui Mina checking out books for a couple of freshmen. 

Chaeyoung pretends to gag at the lovesick expression on Dahyun’s face.

Tzuyu sighs, massaging her temples. She’s taking love advice from two single dorks that have never had girlfriends. “I can’t believe she’s lactose intolerant...”

—

“I’ll catch you guys later. Just have to grab my textbook from inside.” Tzuyu waves off her teammates, slinging her backpack over her shoulder as she climbs the steps to the school building. Summer practices can drag on for a while and usually everyone inside clears out by now, but Tzuyu always finds it strange how one minute these halls are bustling with students and the next, they’re abandoned with an eerie solitude settled over everything. The feeling always leaves a bad taste in her mouth for some reason.

She doesn’t expect to be startled while retrieving her books but when she hears a loud thud outside her classroom, she thinks her soul momentarily leaves her body.

Cautiously, she peers out into the hall and her eyes widen at the sight that greets her. There’s a trail of papers scattered across the hallway floor, starting at her feet and leading all the way up to— none other than Minatozaki Sana herself, lying flat on her stomach, the clumsiest (most endearing) girl in school. 

“S-Sana unnie? Are you okay?”

Sana’s hands are stained with ink like she’s been working on something crafty and she still laughs as she mutters “ita” to herself, which Tzuyu presumes is the equivalent of “ouch” in Japanese. When Sana finally looks up at her, she looks like a deer caught in headlights, and her flustered laugh tugs at Tzuyu’s heartstrings.

_That’s right, this classroom is used by the calligraphy club after school._ Tzuyu recalls, though she usually leaves right as she’s dismissed from practice so she’s never run into anyone before.

“Ah, Tzuyu? You must’ve been studying if you’re here this late, did I disturb you? I’m sorry.” Sana sits up gingerly, dusting off her otherwise pristine school uniform. 

“Something like that.” Tzuyu says. She doesn’t mean for it to sound aloof, but it comes out that way. She’s a bit confused as to why Sana would apologize, but she finds it cute nonetheless.

“Well, I’ll get out of your wa-–“ Sana is cut off by a sneeze, a unique sounding one, and Tzuyu tries not to wince because if the fact that Sana sneezes every time they’re with each other is any indication, Sana might actually be allergic to _her_ and not so much the yogurt. What is one to do when their crush can't even be in close vicinity of them? 

Under any other circumstances, Tzuyu probably would’ve remained frozen in Sana’s presence, but it would be rude of her not to help right now. So she quickly squats down and collects the splayed out sheets of paper, admiring the elegant penmanship as she hands them back to Sana.

Then she holds out her hand to help Sana up because the older girl has been laughing airily and dropping more papers with one hand than she was picking them up with the other this whole time.

  
  


When they’re both on their feet again, Tzuyu looms over Sana like the moon eclipsing the sun. She’s suddenly reminded of a time they were much younger— Tzuyu had always been tall for her age, and the first time she had stood in front of Sana on the playground, a shadow almost completely dwarfed the older girl. She had noticed something, probably a dried leaf after a day spent rolling in grass and dirt, stuck to Sana’s pigtails. When she had reached over to remove it, Sana had screamed at the top of her lungs. Apparently she thought Tzuyu was going to tug on her hair, which is unfortunately exactly what ended up happening as Tzuyu had frightened and yanked her hand back, pulling on Sana’s pigtail instead. It’s funny how their relationship still isn’t much different. Tzuyu smiles wistfully at the memory but her expression fades into one of concern as her eyes drift to Sana’s knee.

“You’re bleeding,” she says matter-of-factly. 

Sana looks caught off guard, laughing sheepishly. “Oh, I guess I am. I should do something about that.”

There’s an awkward pause as Tzuyu stares at Sana, and the older girl squirms uncomfortably under her gaze before Tzuyu abruptly takes her wrist and pulls her into the classroom.

“Sit.”

Funnily enough, Sana plops into a chair at command much like a puppy would.

Tzuyu fishes through her backpack for a second, finding the box of bandaids she had tucked away somewhere earlier this week. She’s an athlete after all, cuts and scrapes weren’t anything she wasn’t well acquainted with.

As Sana waits for her, a comfortable silence settles over them. The sunlight filtering through the window behind the older girl and the way her honey brown eyes catch the light makes Tzuyu’s heart flutter. She wonders how someone can look so ethereal bathed in the everyday soft glow of evening light.

“You should be more careful.” Tzuyu breaks the silence, placing the bandaid and a few other things on the desk next to her. 

Sana nods, blinking slowly as if she were expecting Tzuyu to break her kneecaps instead. They really did get off on the wrong foot. Or feet. 

“This might sting a little,” Tzuyu warns, tearing open the alcohol swab she also conveniently has on hand. Her teammate, Hirai Momo, is a lot like Sana when it comes to her impressive ability to trip over nothing but air (they must be best friends for a reason) so she started carrying a whole medical kit in her backpack at some point. Carefully, she presses the cold, damp square against Sana’s knee.

Sana grimaces, biting down on the inside of her cheek to stifle a surprised squeak.

“There.” Tzuyu announces, gingerly blowing on the affected area before sticking the bandaid over it. “That wasn’t too bad, right?”

When she looks up at Sana, she finds soft brown eyes watching her so intently in return that she immediately averts her own gaze, breath hitching as if she were the one caught doing something wrong. Somehow she’s the one embarrassed when it’s Sana looking at her like that. Because, who does that? Looks at them like they’re the cynosure of everyone’s attention? It’s never been a fair fight, really.

“You don’t happen to have another colour do you?” Sana jokes, but when Tzuyu quickly whirls around to look in her backpack, she waves her hands in protest. “Wait no, I was just kidding Tzuyu-ah...”

“Oh.” Tzuyu deadpans, hoping that her cheeks don’t look as warm as they feel.

“But thank you, really, Tzuyu-ah...” Sana says sincerely, and then she does something that Tzuyu would play in her head over and over for months to come, screaming into her pillow with the dumbest smile on her face. She reaches over and pats Tzuyu’s head affectionately with the kindest smile Tzuyu has ever seen. It probably wouldn’t have been as effective if Tzuyu were standing.

The gesture does make her wonder if Sana still sees her as a junior, though they weren’t that far apart in age. Especially now that they were in high school and all. But it’s that beaming smile that’s so fatal to Tzuyu’s heart, like children staring directly at the sun even after they’re told they could go blind.

“I just happened to be passing by.” Tzuyu says nonchalantly. She spends the rest of her day in a daze, occasionally running her fingers through her hair and trying to stifle a grin.

—

It’s in PE class that they see each other again, not counting the occasional glances in the hallways when they’re with their friends. Days turn to weeks and weeks to months, but school life always moves at this weird disorienting pace— where feelings are either erratic or stagnant, where nothing seems to happen in forever or everything happens at once. This small little world of theirs unbeknownst to anything outside of it.

Tzuyu is in a different year than Sana, of course, so it’s even harder to find an excuse to talk to her. It’s not like they shared the same classes, but every now and then the PE teachers would merge two classes for an activity and as luck would have it, she finds herself face-to-face with the girl of her dreams. Well, face-net-face... 

They’ve changed out of their uniforms and into their gym attire, and Tzuyu absentmindedly dawdles by the net. A game of volleyball is the perfect chance for Tzuyu to impress Sana with her skills. 

“Hello? Earth-to-Tzuyu.” Chaeyoung waves her hand over Tzuyu’s face, then follows her friend’s line of sight and hums in understanding.

“She’s hopeless,” Dahyun chimes good-naturedly. 

“Today’s the day,” Tzuyu finally turns to them, determined. “I’m going to ask her to go to the arcade with me today.”

Chaeyoung squeezes Tzuyu’s shoulder, seemingly both out of pity and support. “You’ll get her one day, champ.”

“I think today really is the day.” Dahyun says encouragingly, and Tzuyu offers her a toothy smile.

“I’m officially demoting Chae from wingwoman duties and appointing you instead.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa— let’s not make any rash decisions now... who else is gonna stop you from going super saiyan and spiking it in Sana unnie’s face?” Chaeyoung grabs Dahyun’s shoulder, pulling her down to display the silly look on Dahyun’s face. “This girl? I don’t think so.”

“I can show-off without hitting anyone in the face, thanks.”

“And I scored a hundred percent on our chem midterm, there’s no need to lie—“ Chaeyoung is cut off by the ball Tzuyu hurls in her direction. She would have tossed it back were it not for the fact that their coach saunters by that very instance. As soon as she isn’t facing them, Chaeyoung resumes like she’d been momentarily on pause.

“Chou, Son, Kim! You’re on thin ice...”

All three of their backs straighten at the sound of their coach, who apparently has eyes on the back of her head because behind her Chaeyoung is frozen with her arm drawn back, Dahyun has somehow ended up on the floor with her hands gripping Chaeyoung ankles, and Tzuyu is on her way to tackle them both. The class laughs, and Tzuyu drags her finger across her throat, eyes locked on Chaeyoung.

By the time the game starts, Dahyun and Chaeyoung have slinked away to their hiding spot, nowhere to be seen. Tzuyu doesn’t have to ask where they are though. During PE, those two would get out of doing any exercise by insisting they needed to use the washroom and then never returning from the locker room. On the other hand, Tzuyu actually enjoyed this class so she opted not to join those two in their shenanigans and jeopardize her grade.

Tzuyu takes her usual stance, knees bent and bouncing on her toes so she can move deftly. Sana, on the other end, is giggling and hopping on one leg as Momo tries to drag her back to her position as the outside hitter. Momo catches Tzuyu’s eye and waves at her and Tzuyu grins. This game wouldn’t be an easy one if her opponent is Hirai Momo, a fellow teammate and thereby friend. Momo is nearly on every sports team and known for her athleticism, not to mention feared by rival schools. She also just happens to be Sana’s best friend. Tzuyu has always thought of Momo as a mentor and takes up any opportunity to get in extra practice with her. The only problem is how the thrill of competition overcomes her once she starts something, especially when she’s put against a formidable opponent.

The match begins with a powerful jump serve from Mina, and everyone looks a little impressed because Mina isn’t particularly known for her athletic prowess but still manages to be effortlessly perfect in everything. Tzuyu is so going to rub it in Dahyun’s face later for missing this. As soon as the game is set in motion, the familiar sounds of squeaky footsteps and rubber colliding with skin fills the gym. 

“Gahyeon,” Tzuyu calls out as Gahyeon shifts under the ball, assessing the situation in a heartbeat before setting the ball for Tzuyu.

Tzuyu is already leaping into the air, arm winded back, slamming the ball at the apex of her jump. It lands in the other court with a hard smack, Momo sliding next to it on the glossy hardwood floor after diving with her arms outstretched. That was yet another thing Tzuyu admired about Momo, the fact that she went after every hit no matter what, even when it seemed hopeless— and there have indeed been many occasions where she’s saved the game just like that.

“Nice one!” Sana cheers, giving Tzuyu a thumbs-up, and Momo lightly slaps the back of her head.

“Hey! Whose side are you on?”

“The winning one.” Sana says smugly, and Momo buries her face in her hands, feigning disappointment.

“If this wasn’t a class, I’d have you benched the whole time.”

“Actually can you still do that. My legs are killing me.”

Gahyeon and a few others pat Tzuyu on the back, praising her. The first two sets go by smoothly and Tzuyu thinks she’s doing a good job at impressing Sana even if Momo has threatened both of them a dozen times, but it’s the third set when things take a turn for the worse. 

All the banter with Momo had almost completely made her forget about her initial goal of getting Sana’s attention. Instead the game had become about winning and if her team won the third set, they’d get to pick the activity next time. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise when Tzuyu and Momo dominate the court on either side, returning each other’s hits with such intensity that even the benched students are on the edge of their seats, utterly invested in their performance. Heads on the sideline follow the ball back and forth as it moves between courts. Tzuyu is the only one tall enough to block some of Momo’s hits, though Elkie can jump pretty high. It isn’t until Gahyeon bumps it perfectly to Tzuyu that she goes in for a spike, the adrenaline rush and desire to win driving her. At first it’s the captivating sight of Tzuyu in the air that garners everyone’s attention, but then it’s Sana‘s shriek on the receiving end.

Tzuyu lands on her feet and freezes. _Oh fuck._

The class goes silent as Momo rushes over to Sana, who’s now on the floor and holding her nose. Momo carefully puts Sana’s arm around her shoulder and leverages her up as the coach jogs over to them.

“You alright kiddo?”

Sana nods but she winces when the coach pats her back.

“Hirai, get her to the nurse’s office. Just to make sure no migraine or anything like that.”

  
  


It wasn’t unusual for players to get injured in PE and soon enough, Sana is already being escorted to the school infirmary by Momo. Some players are substituted in and the game continues, but Tzuyu feels like her legs are going to give away. She waits intently for the ground below her to open like a vortex and swallow her whole. But that doesn’t happen because the universe never seems to be on her side. 

She manages to play the last set then takes off before the bell can ring to dismiss them, not bothering to change out of her clothes or stop by her locker to grab books for the next class. Instead, she sprints, swooping down to clutch her backpack on the way out and dashes across the hallways before they could become congested with students. Her heart racing so fast she wonders if it’s trying to escape her rib cage.

She reaches the nurse’s office fairly quick, but it makes up for the time it takes for her to gather the courage to actually knock. She doesn’t have any flowers or anything as an apology. How can she show up empty-handed after accidentally hitting Sana in the face? Surely hurting the most perfect nose is a crime in itself.

If Momo hadn’t appeared from behind and caught Tzuyu off-guard, she probably would’ve turned around and left before she could muster the confidence. 

Tzuyu shakes her head, snapping out of her stupor as Momo looks at her knowingly.

“You haven’t won yet,” Momo says, and there’s a twinkle in her eyes that confuses Tzuyu. Momo smirks and Tzuyu really should have expected what’s next but Momo has already knocked and flung open the door before stepping aside herself.

This is what happens when you let Momo in on a secret; though, in her defence, Momo’s the only one who knows Sana’s locker combination so asking her to be an accomplice only made sense at the time. At this point, everyone but Sana seems to know about her crush.

“Momoring?” Sana’s sweet voice floats towards her. “Do you have my snacks or did you eat them on the way like last time?”

Tzuyu shuffles inside awkwardly where Sana sits on the pristine bed, legs dangling off the side and a lollipop in her mouth. Her shoes seem to have been discarded too, which Tzuyu finds amusing because her injury doesn’t warrant that. Tzuyu wonders how it’s possible that Sana is older than her.

“Oh, Tzuyu-ah! You came to visit me?” Sana says with the same sweetness she used with Momo, like whatever had transpired moments ago was the least of her worries.

Tzuyu doesn’t understand how someone could be this kind. She can’t wrap her head around why she’s so drawn to Sana either or when her feelings developed in the first place. It all happened so gradually and one day she just noticed they were there like it was the most natural thing ever. Maybe it was just the way Sana could liven up any room she walked into, like when she walked into Tzuyu’s pre-calculus class on the first day back to school. Even though she was a senior, she’d forgotten which class she was supposed to be in which made it all the funnier. It took 10 minutes for her to realize that Tzuyu, incidentally the one seated next to her, wasn’t in the same year as her. Funnily enough, they did wind up sharing a class that term wherein Tzuyu discovered that Sana carried more cute note-taking supplies than anyone would ever realistically need.

“I didn’t know you were lactose intolerant...” Tzuyu croaks, and then immediately regrets it because what could possibly have compelled her to lead with that. She could have said absolutely anything else but, sure enough, this is the first thing that leaves her mouth.

The question catches Sana by surprise but Tzuyu can’t see her face, not when she’s too busy staring at the foot of the bed like it held the answers to everything. It’s the laugh that makes Tzuyu’s eyes snap up.

“I’m not lactose intolerant,” Sana says with a giggle, and Tzuyu shrinks.

“I’m going to kill those two.”

“What?”

“I-– so you’re not—“

“It would be very disappointing if I couldn’t digest the yummy yogurt cups some charming stranger has been leaving me every morning.”

Tzuyu looks stunned, forgetting how to string words together to form a coherent sentence. How did human speech even work?

Sana laughs again, and her eyes seem to soften. “I was in early for a student council meeting and saw you come in after your soccer practice. Not that I know you have practice every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 in the morning, of course. You and Momo have the same schedules, like evening practices on Wednesday, but I know you work a shift at the gelato place after because one time I came in with Mina and— I’m gonna stop talking now. I promise I’m not a stalker.”

“So you’re not lactose intolerant,” Tzuyu jests. “Oh, and you’re obsessed with me. Got it.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who leaves delightful little snacks in someone’s locker and then calls her a nerd the same day. I really thought you hated me... and then I thought you liked me and then I wasn’t so sure because I kept waiting for you to confess to me but you never did.” Sana looks at her in anticipation, fidgeting with the hem of the nursery pillow; the only indication that she, too, is nervous. She almost looks like she _wants_ Tzuyu to confess, like she’s tired of dropping hints. Her lollipop has dissolved completely and she’s just biting on the stick now but it’s too awkward to throw it out. “So which is it, Chou Tzuyu? Do you really hate me…?”

“I don’t hate you. I never did.” Tzuyu sits down next to Sana. Her feet actually touch the ground. “I’m not sure when it started...” Tzuyu takes a deep breath. Sana’s accidental confession to having her entire schedule memorized had given her all the confidence that she needed. Suddenly it doesn’t seem like Sana reciprocating her feelings is out of her realm of possibility. It was now or never, and she was tired of beating around the bush. “But I’ve liked you for a really long time, actually. All I know is that your smile gives me butterflies and your laugh is like music to my ears. I like how I can recognize your notes just by the way you dot your i’s and the stupid colourful pens you keep switching between in class. I like how you’re so kind to everyone around you, how you say good morning to every teacher and student, how you spend your lunch hours being a diligent student. I think you have the most beautiful eyes in the world, and I’m sorry for hurting your perfect nose. And I know I sound really fucking corny right now but I’ve always wanted to say all this without messing u-”

Before she can ramble on any further, Sana closes the distance between them and her lips meet Tzuyu’s in a tender kiss, who is effectively silenced. 

Tzuyu can’t say that she hasn’t imagined what these rose-tinted lips would feel like against her own during her daydreaming sessions in class, but this is so much better than her imagination could ever be. This is different. More awkward and timid, her heart beating a mile a minute, the cool breeze from the window behind them, and Sana’s floral, vanilla type of scent. She decides right then and there that she’ll go off on long tangents declaring her love for Sana all the time if this is how it ends.

_Achibaba—!_

“Did you just sneeze while we were making out.”

Sana, burying her entire face in her hands and ears glowing red from embarrassment, simply peeks at Tzuyu through the gap between her fingers. “It’s the pollen…” the uncharacteristically small voice explains as the sheer curtain behind them flutters with the spring breeze.  
  


—

  
  


“So let me get this straight. She’s _not_ lactose intolerant? Let me repeat that again. She’s not-”

“That’s all you took from that story. What about the fact that they made out after Tzuyu spiked Sana unnie in the face? Or the last bit about nurse Jennie walking in on them??” Chaeyoung shakes Dahyun incredulously.

“It was actually Mina that’s lactose intolerant.” Tzuyu adds wryly, stirring her coffee. They were cramming for yet another midterm.

“Mina… lactose intolerant… no, that can’t be right…” Dahyun sucks in air through her teeth then purses her lips as her eyes watch Mina putting away books on the other side of the library. “Oh my god, I gotta run.”

Tzuyu, confused, shifts her gaze to Chaeyoung after Dahyun takes off unexpectedly. “What the hell was that?”

“She took a page out of your book and has been offering Mina milkshakes and yogurt cups from the cafeteria for a while now.”

Tzuyu laughs so hard that she sheds a few tears and, at one point, no sound is actually leaving her mouth. Mina ends up having to kick them out of the library after all and not a lot of studying gets done in the end. They all get a C on their midterm, which is “better than expected” according to Chaeyoung. The only good that comes out of it is that Mina offers to tutor Dahyun even after she tried to poison her.

**Author's Note:**

> i was eating yogurt and then this happened im sorry
> 
> also i’ve never posted my writing on here before (because i still have a long way to go) so i started off with something super lighthearted. i dont know if anyone’s gonna actually read this, but if on the off-chance you do, i hope you enjoy !! :)


End file.
